What do you plant with Garlic?

Last fall I had put in my garlic bulbs in 4 nicely spaced rows, thinking that this spring I could plant some other veggie between the rows. Now, please don’t giggle – I am such a novice at serious vegetable growing. I had been thinking that it would be a great place to put the peas, but from other companion planting charts I have looked at, this is a really big no-no. It looks like I can plant some broccoli between without any problem which will take up some of the space. But what other things are there that can safely go between the rows of Garlic?

roses. oh you mean food items… well you can eat roses if you want. Just watch for the thorns, they make your salad taste all bloody.

actually here is a list I made for myself last year… sorry I don’t have references:
Tomato is good with Basil and Carrots, bad with Corn and Fennel. Basil repels flies and mosquitoes, improves growth and flavor.
Corn-early good with Melons and Peas
Corn-regular good with Melons and Peas
Bell pepper good with Onion
Sweet pepper good with Onion
Banana pepper good with Onion
Jalapeño pepper good with Onion
Cantaloupe good with Corn
Carrot is good with Onion, Peas, Tomato, Sage, Rosemary. Chives improve growth and flavor. Rosemary and sage deter carrot fly.
Peas-Garlic and onion stunt the growth of peas.
Basil with Peppers, Tomatoes, and Marigold keeps flies and mosquitoes away
Parsley good with Tomato
Oregano provides general pest protection
Garlic wards off aphids and other insects and pests

Whatever you interplant with them now, be mindful that a couple of weeks from their harvest date you’ll be stopping all watering. This allows the bulb to ‘harden’ up and be at its best for storage. The same thing may apply for ornamental bulbs that are being stored?

If you don’t plan on keeping any long term then it may not matter too much but they will still be affected by the continued watering, and it will be pretty hard to judge when they are naturally browning off, and too much water at that stage encourages rotting (guess how I know that one:)

If I was doing any interplanting then I’d consider the beets, so long as they don’t spread their leaves too far and also that they mature early or at least yield a decent bulb if picked early.
The lettuce would also be a good one as you’ll be able to prune that as you go if it looks like out competing the garlic. You would get a good harvest through out the season, and it’d be no great loss if it died at garlic harvest time – due to lack of water.

If you grew broccoli it may shade out the garlic, although if you trimmed the lower leaves they may be fine co-existing. Again though, be mindful of harvest time as you’ll be pulling bulbs out of the ground (probably with the assistance of a fork) so root disturbance will need to be factored in. peppers I’d be really careful with, you’d definitely want some safe, undisturbed space for their roots. Your row spacing will tell if that will be a problem or not though.

I tried to grow late garlic along the border edge with comfrey right behind them. It didn’t work too well as water became a real issue, even though they should have been drawing from different levels – I’d have thought anyway, perhaps I was given proof that they don’t? One or the other would have been fine, but not last season – maybe this year if I didn’t heed the lesson well enough. :)

SFG’s should have some good experience with proximity planting of garlic. They seem to succeed under what I’d call cramped conditions :)

Rather than dedicating valuable bed space to garlic, I like to use them as borders around the beds. Since marigolds can withstand some dryness, that’s what usually gets planted near them in my garden. I’m also counting on the odors from both plants to protect what I plant on the interior of the bed.

I plant them around things, since oniony goodness deters a lot of pests. Graibeard’s advice re: water only applies if you live someplace where it doesn’t rain all the time in the summer. I live someplace where it rains all the time in the summer, taking any notions of drying out garlic in the bed completely off the table. I used a trowel rather than a fork to harvest my garlic last year, since it was in an intensive planting situation. It lets me be a lot more focused in the harvest, which disturbs fewer plants in the shared bed. If you loosen it a little and cut under the bulb a bit and then pull up, almost always you’ll just get the garlic bulb, and the roots that had been growing off the bottom of the bulb will break off in the soil, not disturbing anything by being pulled out. If you’re careful, you don’t upset nearby plants too much. Just a couple of one-off garlic cloves in the tomato bed (they’re supposed to be happy together) isn’t going to destroy your tomatoes when you harvest them if you’re remotely careful. But I wouldn’t put garlic next to something that is notoriously finicky about its roots being disturbed.

We grow a couple hundred garlic cloves each year. It’s very hot here (and usually dry in the summers) so the garlic leaves tend to get a little sun burned. I’m considering interplanting tall cutting flowers like zinnas or marigolds to shade them. Then when it comes time to pull the garlic I will have lots of bouquets around the house and for giving!

Thanks everybody for the ideas. My growing conditions are just like those of cmagnus. It is always raining at some time or other. So none of the garlic ever really gets to dry out in the ground. Last year I only harvested 4 garlic bulbs, so I used them right away. I also use a trowel, a narrow one, for harvesting them.
@whirliegig – I have my walking onions planted around part of the perimeter of the bed. Maybe in the fall, I’ll do the rest with the garlic.

Although I don’t do SFG, my space is limited, so I will probably put in some of the Broccoli, and maybe Carrots and Beets. It sounds like they will do well there all the way around. I wasn’t planning on beets, but I bet DH would be happy if I did. He likes them, I don’t.

Garlic is a great asset as an insect and disease repellent and as an insecticide. Planted near raspberries and roses, garlic will deter Japanese beetles, a talent highly regarded in my opinion. Garlic repels blight from potatoes and tomatoes, flea beetles from potatoes, red spider from tomatoes, and green loopers from heads of cabbage. Instead of necessarily planting as a companion I make a garlic emulsion spray as a general insecticide and it also helps against brown rot of stone fruits.

@ tash- I am getting ready for bed, just perused this post and read your comment about all the different companion plants and beneficials…it was like reading Carrots Love Tomatoes lol. Seriously though, great job on that. I don’t think I could have done any better. :D Have a great night.

From what I can tell, they don’t argue, but the general feel is cramped because of root system size. Basil being small and garlic/tomatoes both having large ones. Its more of a contention of space than anything serious. Of course my experience is only from one set of tomatoes/garlic/basil.

Fairly traditional, I have a my bedroom set up as a growroom as well, with tons of flowers and such. Tropicals on one side, desert plants on the other, and a big planter with flowers, tomatoes, and the basil/garlic. Its pretty deep and wide so they have fairly decent room, but its no outdoor garden.

I’m rather new when it comes to knowing much when it comes to real knowledge on gardening, but I have a knack for knowing what plants want so growing them comes really easy.

I am planting my grocery store stuff that is sprouting in the cupboard this year. A few years back I splurged on some different varieties from a catalog and they were sooooo good. I should have saved a head to replant.

Hind sight is 20/20. :) I am looking forward to garlic this fall. :) We’ll see. I have never tried this variety to my knowledge. The ones that I planted last year were a Chinese variety that hubby got at Sams Club, lol.